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Archive for the ‘Social Studies’ Category

MLE Lesson Resources

Posted in Chapter 3, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Media Literacy, Resources, Social Studies, tagged , , , , , , on September 10, 2019| Leave a Comment »

As a new school year begins, here is a quick update on one of the most comprehensive and dynamic resource hubs for media literacy lessons and videos designed for elementary, middle, and high school learners: KQED Education.  In their “For Classrooms” section, teachers can find lesson plans for Humanities or STEM units, or Elementary media literacy education.  For professional development, educators are also encouraged to check out their coursework in KQED Teach and PBS Media Literacy Educators Certification. Some might want to go straight to the topical videos produced by PBS Digital Studios, check out the Above the Noise channel (or its previous incarnation, The Lowdown, with stories from 2018 and before, organized by theme).  And for those looking for an overall national resource from public media, here is the PBS Learning Media page, from which one can also search for links to local stations and related resources.

Update 2020: An election year is here, and a special Youth Media Challenge has been set up for educators and students.  Check it out!

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Uncanny Expectations, Part Two

Posted in Chapter 1, Media Literacy, Social Studies, Visual Effects, tagged , , , , , on June 30, 2019| Leave a Comment »

In previous posts, the impact of The Uncanny Valley (or Uncatty Valleys) was discussed through a variety of examples of how CGI can be used to create or alter human forms or other living creatures, along with the impact of such sights on viewers.

In recent months, there were many strong reactions to just how many uses of AI “creatures” were seen in commercials during 2019, such as during the Super Bowl.  Whether they are reflecting current fears or aspirations, or if they are being used to shape perceptions and obsessions with technology and its role in people’s lives, there is no question that how audiences are able to process and decipher digitally-created and manipulated images, particularly those of humans, is a key media question for viewers today.  And for young people, who are generally well-versed in “personal branding” and the current career choice of “influencer,” they might even wonder if those being selected to influence them are even real.

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Media Manipulation: An Ongoing Story

Posted in Chapter 6, Media Literacy, Social Studies, tagged , , , , , on May 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »

In earlier posts, there has been exploration of such phenomena as the use and misuse of the terms “fake news” and “trolls,” along with the many impacts of covert disinformation campaigns, contemporary propaganda, and other phenomena of distorting or negating truth-telling through media manipulation and dissemination of outright falsehoods.  A major media event has just occurred in which a video was surreptitiously altered through digital editing and shared in an attempt to make it seem as if Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was “stumbling over and slurring her words” in a recent interview.  This doctored video was spread through social media, including by President Trump and figures connected to him.  Here is an article in the New York Times that includes video reporting of the story, and another from the Washington Post.

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Black History Month at the Oscars

Posted in Chapter 5, Directors, Social Studies, tagged , , , , , , , on February 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »

One year ago, a mediateacher.net post shared a Black History Month Interactive Resource, which can be a useful start to exploring many culturally and artistically significant related to this theme from film history.  As a follow up, here is a related highlight from this year’s Academy Awards ceremony: Spike Lee receiving the award for Outstanding Adapted Screenplay (along with Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott) for BlacKkKlansman and delivering a passionate, dramatic acceptance speech that was rooted in his own personal history.  You can read it here.  For those interested in more about Ron Stallworth and the true story on which BlacKkKlansman is based, I recommend checking out this excellent Snap Judgment podcast.

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Media Literacy and Social Studies: Clash at Lincoln Memorial

Posted in Chapter 6, Media Literacy, Social Studies, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 31, 2019| Leave a Comment »

By Sunday January 20, a whirlwind of events that could aptly be described as a nightmarish mix of cultural conflict and media-based miscommunication and distortion began to be seen as “a fuller and more complicated picture … of the videotaped encounter between a Native American man and a throng of high school boys wearing ‘Make America Great Again’ gear outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.” (New York Times, Sarah Mervosh and Emily S. Rueb)  For interested educators, here is a link to a highly developed lesson plan related to intersections between social studies and media literacy that concerns this controversial current event: from PBS Newshour’s Daily Video – Lesson plan: Covington Catholic incident through a media literacy lens. For another piece on media literacy related to how news can be distorted or how actual video sources of news reporting can skew reactions to events, you can also consult the piece Media Literacy and the problem with the term “fake news,” with NAMLE executive director Michelle Ciulia Lipkin.  Finally, for perspectives on how this intense encounter became a viral moment, check out this podcast from The Daily, The Confrontation at the Lincoln Memorial. 

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Infekted Minds

Posted in Chapter 6, Media Literacy, Social Studies, tagged , , , , , , on November 19, 2018| Leave a Comment »

In an earlier post, mediateacher.net highlighted the New York Times teaching resource “Film Club.” There are many great shorts that they post along with discussion points and lesson plans, such as the recent post, Animated Life: Seeing the Invisible. 

For Media Literacy or Social Studies teachers, here is another exceptional new series of short videos that can be used as resources for debate of current events and  contemporary intersections of media, politics, and propaganda: Operation Infektion. These docs explore the longstanding practices of disinformation campaigns by Soviet and Russian secret services (such as the KGB) that have evolved over several decades and whose impacts appear to be quite substantial in America and many countries.  Below are links to the video series and an article by director and writer Adam Ellick.

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Library of Congress National Screening Room

Posted in Chapter 1, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Directors, Media Literacy, Resources, Social Studies, tagged , , , , on September 28, 2018| Leave a Comment »

With more exciting news in our Resources category (such as the Prelinger Archives and Portraits of America posts this year), the Library of Congress has announced that the National Screening Room is now online and features extensive resources for media literacy education.  Many items from this vital national archive are now accessible to the general public and classrooms across the country (and world).  As noted in an article by CBS News, among its highlights are: the classic Edwin S. Porter short The Great Train Robbery (featured for study in Chapter 2), the 1953 feature The Hitch-Hiker by Ida Lupino (a prime director for study with Chapter 5), and a wide variety of diverse types of media such as advertisements, PSAs, and home movies that are discussed in such posts as What Exactly is that Movie? on mediateacher.net and in our investigations of motion picture language and screenwriting throughout Moving Images. 

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